`India capable of making missiles with 8,000 km range`

Bangalore: India is capable of developing missiles that can hit targets located at more than 8,000 km away, a top official today said.

"We will develop it as and when we see a need to develop a missile longer in range than Agni-V. We have the capability to do it," Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister V K Saraswat told reporters here.

Since DRDO had already crossed the `threshold` of making a system with longer capability and developing its sub- systems, making a longer version of Agni-V would be easier, Saraswat, also the Director General of Defence Research Organisation, said.

Last month, India test-fired nuclear-capable Agni-V Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile that brought China within its reach with a strike range of over 5000 km.

Saraswat said Agni-V can double up as a satellite launcher for hurling small-sized spacecraft into the space.

Agni-V had major propulsion blocks and a kind of aviation technology which makes it a suitable launch vehicle for sending small satellites into space, he added. DRDO had started work on it, he said but refused to give a timeframe.